Further Adventures (22 page)

Tio nodded very slow & he listened very careful to every word. He advised Amelia with a smart Plan of his own:

While she hides out in the Motel he will take the Deed of Land back to his house in Gonzales for safekeeping & to keep little Dolores safe he will send his Sister to watch over her. After all that is done he will try to talk to John Newberry & find out what is really doing & make a safe Arrangement for Amelia so she can breathe free again.

Altogether this did not happen at all.

When Tio left her there Amelia’s hopes faded away. Her own Voice nagged her from her pillow. How can a man who Loved her so long ago treat her like his Enemy now? And contrary how can a man she did not even know before give her Comfort like a long lost Love? Amelia did not believe such a man can be in this world such a Good man in such a Rotten place.

Then a Voice woke her up in the middle of the Afternoon. It came bursting down the Airwaves & out of her Radio telling of a dramatic Episode in Mason. Amelia heard about the Innocent runaway girl Charmaine Abercorn lost in the dangerous East 8th & the Unknown Stranger who returned her to the loving arms of her Papa in a trailer court.

Many in Radioland did not believe this Story and they called in to say so. They did not believe in this Mystery Man who appeared out of thin Air their local newspaper spreading such Wild Claims—no they did not believe in a Hero who blazed from the shadows to Defend the Defenseless. The Public mocked that grateful Papa they doubted his words & wanted to believe how the world is a puny place. It can have tricky customers living & breathing also liars in Government & the
weaklings who follow them but not a Hero of flesh & blood who sees wrong and tramples it & sees Goodness and lifts it up.

Hooray for this happy minute because Amelia knew by her Experience he did live & breathe! She knew he was very close by. A wave of Calm rolled over her and after that a wave of Courage. Morning came & she did not mind the Danger of the streets she walked out of the Motel to find him again and use all her Wiles to make him believe how desperate she deserved his Help again.

(THE END)

Personally I do not believe every Story of the Bible. The Garden of Eden etc. Joshua stops the Sun in the Sky etc. I was not there at the time but to my ears it sounds Exaggerated. Not to mention The Greatest Story Ever Told i.e. Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I know many citizens of many Lands believe it word by word and live & die by it. If a person is not a Eyewitness to Events he has to rely on somebody’s Word & make a choice of what he believes. A person must put his foot down & choose or else he will not know what kind of person he is a Moral Character or a weakling.

Between Newberry’s Story & Amelia’s Story I will say I did not reason out & analyze nor I did not flip a coin to decide. A person can not find out what the Truth is by Logic he needs to feel it in his flesh & bones I mean the Emotion of it. By this I am saying other things besides the Evidence I saw & the pleadings I heard led me to my Conclusion.

I picked the Thermos up out of Amelia’s lap. “I’ll go get the ice tea,” I said & I left her sitting in the car.

“You want money?” she called behind me but I did not turn around in my tracks I made believe I did not hear her.

Inside the Diner I ordered the ice tea then I sneaked out by the back door to get to the phone booth. When I heard Newberry answer on the
other end I came down with a case of stage fright like I never had it before. Ripples in my stomach squeezing out my ribs & a gallon of pee aching to run down my leg.

“Are you still there?”

“It’s me,” I said very quiet.

“Where are you?”

“Phone booth.”

“A phone booth where?”

I swallowed down a retch.

“Hello? Ray? Can you hear me?”

“Yeah.”

“Where are you? Geographically.”

“Here.”

“Right. O.K. Are you with her now?”

“Right,” I said. “Yes I am.”

“I understand.”

“It’s very hard for me. Doing this now.”

“I understand. If you just keep talking to me we don’t have a problem about that. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“You’re in good shape my man.”

“If you say so.”

“Tell you what. I wasn’t real sure you’d make this call.”

“No.” I caught my breath. “Same here.”

“That whore can talk you into anything. Believe me.”

I let the phone dangle down in the torn-up Yellow Pages to disguise my Getaway for I did not have the Heart to face his Voice further.

Listen a minute! I had a scary time in the bathroom just now! I can not explain this according to Anatomy like Dr. Godfrey maybe you can make a medical discovery if you analyze these exact Details:

I stood over the toilet as usual the same way as always. I start going but I CAN NOT TELL IF MY PEE IS COMING OUT! No it feels like I am watching SOMEBODY ELSE from the neck down doing this in my bathroom! I concentrate all of my Will Power on my groin muscle &
stop flowing
because cold fear rolls over me like a fog: No I am not truly standing over my toilet in my Pecan St. bathroom peeing I am in the middle of a NAP on the
sofa
& I am
dreaming
this Event & peeing in my pants like a little boy! By now I am seeing Sparkles of Light crackling around the edge of my eyes nor I
can not catch my breath
either I had to sit. Gulping air like a fish on a hook for 20 Minutes! What is wrong with me now? I am still dizzy but I took a few Aspirins for it to calm the Effect. I will wait for this Sensation to end before I tell what

All quiet on the Western Front. All quiet on Pecan St. right now even more than usual. I grabbed the opportunity to finish off a Article I started reading before the Blackout. A very absorbing subject being about what is behind the Black Holes in our Universe. I congratulate all who made this Observation! I nominate them for the Nobel Prize of Science also let me say THANK YOU because now I understand a new Fact of Life which I did not imagine in my dreams before. How a Star can burn down until it is a cold lump maybe the size of Africa or South America one of those two or a grapefruit with so much Gravity inside it pulls in everything in the Neighborhood. Atoms & Molecules also Cosmic Gas also Light Rays it will suck into a hole in Space so I learn!

If a Black hole appeared in my apartment this minute I would crawl in & crawl out of the other side to reach other Worlds beyond. The other Dimensions and whatnot where time will go backwards. I hope I would depart before John Newberry arrives here with his heart set on paying me back for the sorry business with his little girl because I could not face the Matter two times in a row.

Such is not appearing to happen so I will go eat a boloney & cheese sandwich with a glass of ice tea with it. A square meal will perk me somewhat it will give my body some zip. Like the saying goes Calories = Strength. Instead of boloney & cheese I wish I had a bowlful of Spiller’s High Energy Buckwheat Breakfast Flakes for all the Calories I need to tell what I must tell next.

Here is the picture of Amelia coming into my mind in this minute:

Water around her knees with her hands on her hips. I can see her shape bending over with her neck stretched out so she can peer down the River. Some plump kind of a wading bird in Bermuda Shorts hunting for a nice piece of fish there.

The sight of her is murky because at the time she advised me
turn off the headlights
for the sake of camouflage. Also the dust & squashed bugs on my windshield made another Veil then another Veil on top of that was the shadow of the rain clouds cramming in under the Moon.

“Oh look at that!” My painful yelp leaked out when I saw the muddy footprint Amelia put on the carpet when she sat down in the Raymobile again. “You said it was completely dry here.”

“Rain don’t dry things so is no my fault.”

“I’m not driving a Patton tank in case you didn’t notice. This is a Ford station wagon.”

“You no driving anywheres now,” Amelia poked back at me. Very sarcastic she added on, “Case you diddin notice hm?”

“How do we know it’s safe the rest of the way? You only checked to the middle.”

“So we stay safe here. Park here!”

Her words jabbed me in the head. I switched the motor off. “When you’re in a hurry that’s when you make mistakes.” I pointed at the filthy floor under her feet. “For example.”

She shook her head & blinked at me a couple times for Sarcastic Effect. As if
I
was the one who was blowing it out of Proportion!

I started the motor again & nudged the Raymobile further in the water with coaxing words to the dashboard. From the steering I could feel how the current pushed on the side also what with the mud & rocks etc. very uneven underneath it was not a easy job driving in a straight line. I do not wish to compare unduly but a person & his car can grow very close by way of the same Experience so much like a married couple in some cases. The Highway of Life is not a flimsy expression it is a true description I believe. The Raymobile’s high beams stretched out & scraped upon the foreign shore of Mexico looking forward like me.

A beautiful view from inside in the middle of the River with this Country behind & that Country ahead so there I was with Amelia Vasquez in our own Country between.

“Why you stop?” She shook my shoulder. “Go!”

“I drove through the car wash one time. In Mason they let me. I saw how all the brushes worked. The hot wax treatment too. This is better,” I said. “It’s closer to nature.”

Amelia made her mouth small & tight she stared straight in front as if it was down to her to pull us across the river with the Power of her eyes.

The Raymobile rocked forward it reared back. I revved in Neutral & popped her into Low and I heard the back wheels hissing and this
time we settled down at a bad angle. I threw it into Reverse but this move only made the wheels spin around. Our riverboat with broken paddles!

“We get a taxi in Ojinaga,” Amelia decided.

“You mean
walk
to Mexico?”

“Only one mile. Or one more. I think so.”

“I thought you meant try and walk to the back of the car. To
push
.”

“Leave this car.”

“Abandon the Raymobile in the middle of a river? No!”

She snapped the door open. “You stay here. Sure.” She grabbed her suitcase also she took the Thermos.

“Now
wait
a minute. I pledged to get you home safe and sound. I pledged you!” Which stopped her a second. “So here’s what. You’re not walking in the dark over there alone. I’ll walk you to your front door. You know somebody who owns a tow truck?”

She took this the Opposite! I insulted her! “How do I know when rain comes in Ojinaga? You crazy man. This rains come and you blaming me!”

“If you let me listen to the news and weather report instead of that hillbilly music you made us listen to on the radio maybe we wouldn’t
be
in this stinking mess.”

“If-if-if! If you don’t want somethings from me I think you never drive me home. If I don’t go in bed with you.”

Her insult back bit very sharp. “What kind of man do you think I am?”

“Sure. I think so,” Amelia said behind her frown. “If I don’t go in bed with you.”

And back & back & back. If I did not listen to Newberry. If he did not show me those Files. If he did not make a fake Driver’s License for me. If he did not lure me out of the Bluebird Motel before the shooting started. If I did not put my ad in the
Examiner
. If I did not put my foot
outside Pecan St. in the blackout. Back & back & back. If once upon a time I was not The Green Ray. If I never was born. Then maybe all of this would be happening to Lamont Carruthers.

“I hate you for a man. I have to show you how. Everythings in bed.”

I forgive Amelia for these words I forgive her for the miserable Emotion behind the sound of them. I believe she used to fight by Tooth & Claw for all her needs since she was a little girl. In the dirty street she learned the Lesson of such a poor kind of Life i.e. she had to hit before she got hit. Nor she did not waste her energy on Regrets. She did not regret her crude behavior. By her it was all of the PAST. A minute ago or 10 years ago Amelia will say what is the difference?

In my opinion this is the Reason why I never heard her apologize for this or that so I forgive her she spoke to me in this fashion. She obeyed the Law of the Jungle AMEN. I obey the Law of Relativity so I forgive her AMEN. I will say she lost her temper at the drop of a pin if she had a Weakness here it is. Also with Affection the same all of her feelings flared up & sank back so rapid. I know this by my personal experience & I think also by this open door John Newberry jumped in on her and took advantage he played on the harp strings of Amelia’s emotions.

So it was so be it.

By the time I got the glove compartment open collecting my personal effect out of there Amelia was standing in the water next to me. I always keep a flashlight in there a Tool I find comes in very handy in many assorted situations as I say the Raymobile stuck in the middle of a muddy river in the middle of the night is the perfect situation which proved my point. Under the washcloth I used on the windows my fingers landed on something metal & solid. By this I knew a definite sign of Newberry’s inner thoughts.

“I didn’t put that there,” I said. I was looking at a shiny nickel-plated Snubnose .38 Revolver. I laid the weight of it in my palm I never
beheld such a item before. Newberry’s brand of warning or his brand of Courtesy.

My Lifetime Subscription to
Popular Mechanics
paid off. I figured out the angle on the Mechanism & quick emptied out the bullets I stored them in my pocket to save for later. Only one Question boomed down—was Newberry still behind us or Ahead?

Some events overwhelm this is a physical Fact. Some Powers are too fierce for a person to beat. A flood is such or a earthquake. A K.O. punch from Muhammad Ali is also a fine example. Some things a person can not oppose. A champion boxer is not immune from Physical Facts he lives or dies by them. For all men reach their Limit we are all flesh & blood. A person can fight to his Limit but after that what can he do more? It does not mean a person Fails if events ambush him at his Low Point.